The Company in Ciudad Real Where a Worker Died Due to an Explosion Had Been Sanctioned for a Serious Violation

The sanitary waste treatment plant in Socuéllamos (Ciudad Real), where a 51-year-old woman died on Monday and two other workers aged 31 and 58 suffered severe burn injuries, had an open file for a serious violation. This was confirmed on Tuesday by the delegate of the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real, Blanca Fernández, who added that the company, part of the Athisa Group, "had requested permission to increase the volume of products to be treated, and we said we would not authorize it."

According to Blanca Fernández, the request was related to a research project whose deadline ended on October 9, and "although an extension was requested on October 2, it was denied." "That research had already been completed according to technical criteria, and in any case, it had to comply with a series of additional measures that had already been identified as deficiencies in the inspection reports and the sanctioning file," indicated the delegate of the Junta de Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real.

Meanwhile, the Socuéllamos Town Hall - a town of 12,000 inhabitants - declared two days of official mourning on Tuesday as a sign of grief, and the unions announced a protest on Friday in front of the Ciudad Real employers' association headquarters to demand more workplace safety. In the opinion of the general secretary of Occupational Health of CC.OO. in Castilla-La Mancha, Raquel Payo, "something must have failed in risk prevention for a tank containing chemicals with very high toxicity and flammability levels to explode, and we do not know if the workers had the appropriate training and necessary protective equipment."

This sanitary waste treatment plant opened its doors last March, and since then, the platforms Stop Biometano Socuéllamos and Stop Medical Waste Plant of Socuéllamos had expressed their opposition to handling infectious waste. The spokesperson for the first group, José María Requena, expressed his frustration on Tuesday "because we have filed numerous appeals to the Socuéllamos Town Hall to prevent it from obtaining a license and to annul the activity license." From the Socuéllamos Town Hall, the deputy mayor, José Luis Romero, confirmed that the Local Government Board of this council lifted the suspension of the plant's activity last week, allowing it to continue operating normally.